The political drama in Maharashtra is becoming more and more intriguing ever since BJP along with Ajit Pawar of NCP threw a curve in the wee hours of the morning to end the Maharashtra impasse. Devendra Fadnavis was sworn-in as the CM whereas NCP’ Ajit Pawar as his deputy.
NCP and Shiv Sena strongly voiced their resentment over Ajit Pawar switching sides and giving his support to BJP.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar had earlier in the day alleged that the list of supporting MLAs submitted to Governor B.S. Koshyari by ‘rebel’ Ajit Pawar was not an official list of the party.
It was reported that at least seven legislators who were seen in at the swearing-in of Ajit Pawar in the morning have returned to the party fold and pledged their loyalty to Sharad Pawar. If sources are to be believed, 50 MLAs out of the total of 54 have arrived at a meeting being convened at YV Chavan Centre by the party supremo Sharad Pawar. It was also reported that Ajit Pawar along with 4 rebel MLAs might attend the meeting too and might be set to make an appearance.
Dilip Bankar and Manikrao Kokate, the MLAs from Nashik district, tweeted separately saying they were kept in dark about the oath-taking ceremony. Both the MLAs said they were with the NCP and expressed solidarity with its president.
Earlier, five NCP MLAs Rajendra Shingne (Buldhana), Sandeep Kshirsagar (Beed), Sunil Shelke (Maval), Sunil Bhusara (Vikramgad), Narhari Zirwal (Dindori) and Sunil Tingre (Wadgaon-Sheri) returned to the NCP fold after attending the oath-taking ceremony. Parli MLA Dhananjay Munde, who also is said to have attended the function at Raj Bhavan, turned up at the ongoing meeting of NCP MLAs convened by the Pawar senior.
However, it is now being reported that 17 MLAs were not present at the meeting called by NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. When asked about these MLAs, NCP said that they couldn’t make it to the venue by 4:30 PM, but all are in touch with the party.
#NewsAlert – NCP finally says that 50 MLAs are with the party, only 4 MLAs including Ajit Pawar are not with Sharad Pawar.
When asked about the 17 missing MLAs, NCP clarifies that they couldn’t reach by 4:30 pm but all are in touch.#MahaPoliticalTwist pic.twitter.com/wSr0aTeAwj
— News18 (@CNNnews18) November 23, 2019
Meanwhile, failing to form the government NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena submitted a writ petition in the Supreme Court against Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the Governor of Maharashtra. They are demanding that the governor’s actions in the morning should be declared illegal and Sena-NCP and Congress should be invited to form the government in Maharashtra.
Reports are also emerging wherein it is being said that Sena represented by Congress’ Abhishek Manu Singhvi, will approach the SC asking for a floor test within 24 hours to prevent horse-trading.
According to sources, the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress are expecting the Supreme Court hearing tonight. If that happens, we are in for yet another dramatic night ahead.
